Door latch for automotive vehicles



Jan. 14, 1969 R. E. SLATTERY Y DOOR LATCH FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Sheet il yc v Qcberr. 5 la Filed Dec. 7. 1966 Jan. 14, 1969 RfE. SLATTERY 3,421,785

DOOR LATCH FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Filed Dec. 7. 1966 I Sheet 2 of 3 00% vw' M Jan. 14, 1969 R. E. SLATTERY i DOOR LATCH FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Filed Dec. 7. 1966 Sheet ,3 of 5 United States Patent 3,421,785 DOOR LATCH FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES Robert E. Slattery, Rockford, Ill., assignor to L. W. Menzimer, trustee, Rockford, Ill. Filed Dec. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 599,913 US. Cl. 292-216 12 Claims Int. Cl. Ec 3/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a latch for the doors of a vehicle and more particularly to a latch which may be locked from the inside by a conventional inside, remote control handle or garnish button and which may be locked from the outside of the vehicle with or without the use of a key. It comprises a rotatable latch member dogged by a pawl which is in turn operated by a contactor lever co-pivoted with the pawl. The connection between the pawl and contactor lever is effected by a sliding link mounted on the same pivot as the pawl and contactor. A cancellation lever is pivoted on the contactor lever and serves to shift the sliding link from a disconnect to a connect position upon being engaged by the rotatable latch member when closing the door. If the contactor lever is rotated to the unlatched position by an outside operator while the sliding link is in the disconnect position the cancellation lever is unable to shift the sliding link from the disconnect to the connect position.

Keyless locking from outside of the vehicle is obtained by sequential performance of two manual operations, namely, operation of a garnish button (or an inside remote lever) to a locking position and depression of the outside handle push button while the door is being closed. To prevent an unintentional keyless locking of the door, when the garnish button or inside remote lever is in a locking position without simultaneous depression of the outside push button, the latch is constructed to unlock with closing of the door. The returning of the latch to its unlocked position with closing of the door is called cancellation.

Accordingly, the general object of the invention is to provide a new and improved latch of simple yet rugged construction and having the capabilities of either keyless locking or cancellation of locking upon the closing of the door.

Another object is to provide a latch having the capabilities of keyless locking and cancellation with a simple slidable link which in a first position renders an outside push button contactor effective to unlatch the door and which in a second position renders the contactor ineffective to unlatch the door but permits the contactor to idle in a free wheeling position with operation of the outside push button.

Another object of the invention is to construct the latch having the features of keyless locking and cancellation with a simple cancellation member carried by the contactor to an inoperative position during a free wheeling movement of the contactor.

A further object of the invention is to construct a simple and rigid latch construction with a main fulcrum post pivotally supporting a manually operable contactor, a pawl and a slidable link, the latter adapted to be interposed between =the contactor and pawl.

Other objects .and advantages will become apparent as the following description proceeds, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view taken through a vehicle door and pillar showing in place the latch constructed in accordance with the present invention.

3,421,785 Patented Jan. 14, 1969 FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the latch and shows the parts in the latched and unlocked position.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 and shows the parts in the unlatched and unlocked position.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but shows the parts in a latched and locked position.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but shows the parts in a lock and freewheeling position.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of a latch member on which is formed an integral toothed ratchet.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but shows the parts in an unlatched and locked position.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIG. 7 showing an end view of the parts.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of the cometing link for the contactor and pawl.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of a locking member.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged perspective view of a cancellation member.

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a latch for use in a relatively small space within a vehicle door 21 at its free end and between outer and inner sides 22 and 24 respectively of the door. When the door is closed as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a latch member 25 coacts with a striker 26 secured to a pillar 28 of the vehicle body to latch the door shut. The striker may, as illustrated herein, be a cylindrical post which extends horizontally and is alined for movement into and from a slot 29 in the latch member with opening and closing of the door.

When the door is in a closed and latched position as Seen in FIG. 2, the latch member 25 is held against turn ing to release the striker 26 from its slot 29 by a hooked nose 30 of a pawl 31 inserted into a first tooth 32 of a toothed ratchet 34 integrally formed on the upper and outer side of the latch member. Herein, the latch member is journaled on a shaft 35 extending horizontally between vertical extending support plates 36 and 39 spaced apart by and secured to each other by narrow and opposite side wall or plates 39 and 40 extending normally to constitute a box-like bracket for the parts of the latch. The side plate 38 of this support bracket is secured to the inside door jamb wall 41 which has an opening to expose the slot 29 of the latch member for latching with the striker post 26 when the door swings to the closed portion of FIG. 1.

The pawl 30 holds the latch member 25 in a latched position against the turning force of a stretched contractile spring 44 hooked between a spring hanger tab 45 on the side plate 36 and a tab 46 on a member 48 secured to a vertical side of the latch member. The spring 44 is strong enough to maintain the latch position when the door is unlatched and is stretched during closing of the door as the striker 26 engages a curved lower cam surface 47 on the latch member forming one side of the slot 29 and turns the latch member counterclockwise (FIG. 2). The pawl 31 holds the latch member 25 against turning clockwise as seen in FIG. 2, under the influence of the spring.

Herein, the pawl 31 is in the form of a lever extending generally downwardly from an upper fulcrum post 50 which spans and is secured to the spaced vertical sideplates 36 and 38. For biasing the hooked nose of the pawl to engage a tooth of the ratchet 34, a torsion spring 53 is disposed on the shaft 50 with an upper end 57 (FIG. 1) engaging a bracket lug 56 and the lower end engaging the lower right side of the pawl. The lug 56 also extends laterally sufi'iciently to intercept and to engage the upper portion of the contactor and thereby limit its clockwise turning (FIG. 2) as the contactor returns the push pin 51 and the outside push button to their nonoperated positions with release of the outside push button. As the turning force of the main latch spring 44 exerts a substantially straight downward pull on nose 30 of the pawl, the pawl spring 53 has sufficient strength to hold the pawl nose 30 seated in the tooth 32 of the latch member so that the door is latched in the usual safety position.

The latch may be released from the outside of the vehicle by pressing a push button (not shown) on the outside handle to slide a push pin 51 further into the door to abut a lateral otfset on the upper end of a contactor 52 which pivots and moves the pawl 31 to release its nose 30 from the tooth 32 of the latch member. Upon release, the spring 44 turns latch member from the position of FIG. 2 to that of FIG. 3, the unlatched position, in which the striker 26 is free to move through the slot 29 with opening of the door. The contactor for actuating the pawl is fulcrumed on the main support pin 50 and is biased clockwise (FIG. 2) against the push pin by a coiled torsion spring 54 disposed about the shaft 50 with one of its ends hooked to the contactor at a hole 55 and with the other end bearing against the wall 39 on the support bracket.

To enable the contactor 52 to pivot the pawl 31 to its release position, a connecting link 58 is positioned to bring a lateral extension in the form of a U-shaped bend 59 beneath an upper lug 60 on the contactor and over a lower lug 61 on the pawl. With the bend 59 of the link interposed in an operative position between the lugs 60 and 61, the turning of the contactor 52 by the push pin 51 transmits a downward force to the link 59, which also pivots downwardly about the main support pin 50, and transmits a turning force to pivot the pawl 31 counterclockwise (FIG. 2) about its axis to the releas position shown in FIG. 3. The link is mounted at its right end (FIG. 2) on the pin 50 for longitudinal sliding by means of a slot 64 sized to fit the pin 50. The left end 65 of the link extends through a vertical slot 66 in the bracket wall 40 and the upper edge of the slot limits the upward pivoting of the link about the pin 40 by a coiled spring 67, which has an upper leg 68 inserted in a hole in the link and a lower leg hooked in a hole 69 (shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2) in the bracket wall 36. The spring raises the link to its normal horizontal position (FIG. 2) when the latter is released by the contactor 52 (FIG. 3).

To interconnect the contactor 52 and the pawl 31, the transverse bend 59 in the link 58 extends laterally from its right end across the planes of the contactor 52 and the pawl 31. More specifically, the upper edge 59a of a leg of the bend (FIGS. 1 and 9) extends normal to the contactor 52 and beneath its lug 60 and the lower edge overlies the top of the lug 61 on the pawl 31. Therefore, the lateral extension or bend 59 bridges the lateral space between the planes of the contactor and pawl.

In order to lock the latch. a locking member in the form of a horizontal locking lever 70 is fulcrumed intermediate its ends on a stub shaft 71 fixed on the bracket side wall 36. Disposed centrally and upstanding from the locking lever is an integral leg 72 in which is a vertical slot 74 to receive a pin 75 projecting from the side of the connecting link 58. When the locking lever is in unlocked position (FIGS. 2 and 3) the lateral bend 59 of the connecting link is positioned to couple the contactor 52 to the pawl 31 for unlatching the latch member 25 upon actuation by the push pin 51. When the locking lever is pivoted counterclockwise to the locked position of FIGS. 4 and 5, its upstanding leg 72 engages the pin 75 on the connecting link 58 and slides the link leftwardly. When the link is moved leftwardly the bend 59 and its edges 59a and 5% are shifted from between the lugs 60 and 61 and a subsequent pivoting of the contactor 52 by the push pin results in an idle motion or freewheeling of the contactor as it pivots its lug 60 downwardly from 4 the position of FIG. 4 to that of FIG. 5. Thus, the push button and contactor make an idle motion without turning the pawl when the latch is in a locked position.

The locking lever 70 is biased toward the locked and unlocked positions by an over-center spring 76 (FIG. 2) acting between the bracket wall 36 and the locking lever. Herein, the spring 76 is a coiled spring with one end anchored in a hole 77 in the bracket wall 36 and with the other end 78 anchored in a hole in the locking lever. As the locking lever is turned to and from a locked or unlocked position, the end 78 of the spring moves across a centerline drawn between the hole 77 and the axis of the pivot axis 71 and snaps the locking lever to the position in which it is being moved.

As is customary with latches on a vehicle, the locking lever 70 is moved between locked and unlocked positions from inside of the vehicle either by a garnish button (not shown) located on a moulding at the window on the inside of the door and attached to a wire 79 (FIG. 2) hooked to one end 80 of the locking lever or by a remote control handle (not shown) attached to a wire 81 (FIG. 1) and an operating lever 82. From the outside of the door, the locking lever may be moved to a locked or unlocked position by turning a key in cylinder 84 to swing a fork 84a (FIG. 2) pivoted on the outside of the bracket wall 39 to move an upper or lower bifurcation 85 or 86 against an end 88 of the locking lever and to pivot the locking lever to the other position.

To release the latch from the inside, the remote control handle is operated to move the wire 81 to pivot the operating lever 82 (FIG. 1) which has a lower laterally ofiset extension 89 (FIGS. 1 and 2) disposed in engagement with the top surface of the connecting link 58. Upon turning of the remote operating lever to move the extension 89 downwardly, the connecting link pivots about the pin 50 and, when positioned over the pawl lug 61, forces the pawl 31 to pivot counterclockwise (FIG. 2) to move the pawl nose 30 from the tooth 32 of the ratchet wheel whereby the spring 44 turns the latch member 25 to bring a longer top tooth 90 against the pawl nose 30 as seen in FIG. 3. With release of the remote control handle, spring 67 pivots the connecting link upwardly to remain in its unlatched position beneath the lug 60 of the contactor 52.

In accordance with the present invention, the latch is so constructed, that with the door open, keyless locking may be obtained by depressing the garnish button and by simultaneously holding the push pin 51 inwardly to swing a cancellation member 92 connected to the contactor 52 to an ineffective position, and cancellation is achieved, when the push pin is not depressed and the latch member 25 engages the cancellation member 92 and forces the latter to shift the locking lever 70 to its unlocked position whereby the connecting link 58 is reestablished in the operative connecting position between the contactor 52 and the pawl 31. Thus, keyless locking is obtained by two separate manual operations, namely, the depressing of the garnish button and depressing of the push pin and contactor while swinging the door closed, and unintentional locking of the door is prevented when only one manual operation is performed, namely, depression of the garnish button before closing the door.

To achieve cancellation, the closing of the door causes the striker 26 to engage the inclined cam surface 47 on the latch member 25 and to pivot the same counterclockwise (FIG. 7). This moves a cam 95 on member 48, which is secured to the latch member, against the cancellation lever 92 which, in turn, pivots upwardly about its right end to bring its left end against the locking lever 70 to pivot the latter upwardly to the unlocked position of FIG. 1. As the locking lever pivots to the unlocked position, its finger 72 slides the link 58 rightwardly to its operative connecting position between the contactor and the pawl. The cam 95 on the latch member is in the form of a laterally offset and upstanding finger on the member 48 fixed by a tab 96 (FIG. 6) in the side of the latch member for turning on the shaft 35.

When the cancellation lever 92 is in an operative position, a curved flange 98 on its bottom edge extends laterally into the plane and path of movement of the cam 95. The cancellation lever is disposed generally horizontal with its right end pivotally connected by a pin 100 to a lower end 101 (FIG. of the contactor and with its opposite end 102 resting on the bottom of vertical guide notch in the bracket side wall 40. When the cam finger 95 engages the flange 98 and pivots the cancellation lever 92 clockwise (FIG. 7) about the pivot pin 100, an upper inclined edge 105 on the cancellation lever 92 moves into engagement with the lower side of an overhanging lateral extension 106 on the locking lever. The upward force on the extension 106 pivots the locking lever 70 clockwise (FIG. 7) and its upstanding finger 72 engaging the pin 75 slides the link 58 rightward to reestablish the operative connection with the spaced lugs on the contactor 52 and the pawl 31. Thus, the latch is unlocked during closing of the door and the parts are again in the latched and unlocked position of FIG. 2.

To achieve keyless locking, the cancellation lever 92 is disabled by being moved rightwardly (FIG. 5) to shift its upper engaging surface 105 rightwardly of the lateral extension 106 on the locking lever. Therefore, when the door is subsequently closed and striker 26 turns the latch member to cause the cam 95 to engage and pivot the cancellation lever upwardly, its inclined surface 105 misses the lateral extension 106 and moves a cutout 108 '(FIG. 11) on the cancellation lever upwardly toward extension 106 of the locking lever which remains in its locking position. This idle upward pivoting of the cancellation lever 92 leaves the locking lever in its counterclockwise locked position holding the link 58 disposed in its ineffective position. The parts remain in the latched and locked position of FIG. 4 and any operation of the outside pushbutton merely causes freewheeling of the contactor 52 without releasing the latch pawl 31 from the tooth 32 of the latch member.

To gain the attention of one who only partially closes the door, the latch can not be locked until the door is completely closed and in the latched position of FIG. 2. If the door is only partially closed, the latch member 25 turns through a shortened arc and the pawl 31 engages an intermediate tooth 107 and holds the latch member against release and the latch member has its cam 95 engaging and lifting the cancellation lever 92 to a position in which its surface 105 is lifted to engage the lateral extension 106 on the locking lever 70 to hold the latter from turning to its locking position (FIG. 7). The locking lever may turn slightly counterclockwise toward its locking position but the cancellation lever prevents sufiicient turning to permit the overcenter spring 76 (FIG. 2) to become effective to snap the locking lever to the locking position (FIG. 3).

From the foregoing it will be seen that the latch is simple in construction and operation and affords the capabilities of keyless locking, cancellation and freewheeling of the push button and contactor.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door latch, the combination of, a support, a rotatable latch member mounted on the support, a tooth ratchet connected to said latch member to turn therewith between latched and unlatched positions, a main pivot pin on the support, a pawl pivoted on said pin and extending downwardly to said latch member to swing between a first position in which it engages a tooth of the ratchet and a second position in which it releases the ratchet, a manually operable contactor pivoted on said pin and operable to pivot said pawl to said second position, a link mounted for sliding movement on said support to be interposed between said contactor and the pawl in a first position in which the link pivots with said contactor to force said pawl to pivot to its release position, said link slidable to a second position whereby said contactor pivots without pivoting the pawl, a locking lever pivotally mounted on the support and connected to said link to slide said link to disconnect the contactor and pawl when the locking lever is in a locked position and to interpose the link between the contactor and pawl when the locking lever is in an unlocked position, a manually operable member connected to said locking lever to pivot the locking lever to and from the locked and unlocked positions, a cancellation lever pivoted on the lower end of the contactor to swing between a first position in which the locking lever may be operated to its unlocked position and a second position in which the cancellation lever is out of operative contact with the locking lever, and a cam means on the latch member operable with rotation of the latch member to pivot the cancellation lever which when in its first position, is operable to pivot the locking lever to its unlocked position whereby the latch is unlocked.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said slidable link extends generally horizontal and has a transverse offset for insertion between the manually operable member and the pawl when said'link is in its first position.

3. The combination of claim 1 including a remote control member operably associated with said link to operate the latter to release the pawl from the latch member when the link is in its first position.

4. In a door latch, the combination of, a support, a latch member pivotally mounted on said support to turn between latched and unlatched positions, a mechanism selectively operable to hold said latch member in said latched position and to release the member for turning to the unlatched position, a locking member mounted on said support to move between locked and unlocked positions, a manual element operable to move said locking member to said locked position, a contactor manually operable from outside and pivotable on the support to a position for operating the mechanism to release the latch member unless disabled by said locking member, and a cancellation member pivoted on said contactor and movable by the latter to a first position for shifting the locking member to its unlocked position upon turning of the latch member to its latched position, said cancellation member being movable by said contactor to a disabled position so that the latch remains locked with turning of the latching member to its latched position.

5. In a latch, the combination of, a latch member, a fulcrum shaft, a pawl pivoted on the fulcrum shaft to turn selectively to hold and to release the latch member, a manually operable member pivoted on the fulcrum shaft, a link pivotally and slidably supported on said fulcrum shaft to be interposed between said member and pawl in a first position in which the link pivots with the manually operable member to turn the pawl to its release position, said link slidable to a second position in which the manually operable member pivots without turning the pawl to its release position, and a locking means connected to said link to slide the same between the first and second positions.

6. The combination of claim 4 including a cancellation member connected to said manually operable member and engaged by said latch member to shift said locking means to unlock the latch by moving said link to its first position, said cancellation member movable by said manually operable member to another position in which the cancellation member is disabled from shifting the locking means to unlock the latch.

7. In a door latch, the combination of, a support, a latching member rotatably mounted on the support, a toothed ratchet mounted on said support to turn with said latching member between latched and released positions, a pawl fulcrumed on the base to swingbetween a first position in which it engages a tooth of the ratchet and a second position in which it releases the ratchet, a manually operable member operable to move the pawl to send second position, an interposer movable to a first position to connect said manually operable member to said pawl for movement of the latter to the second position, said interposer movable to a second position to disconnect said manually operable member from said pawl, a locking member mounted on said support to move between an unlocked position and a locked position and in the latter position disposing said interposer in its second position to allow freewheeling of said manually operable member, and a cancellation member connected to said manually operable member and movable by the latter to a first position in which the cancellation member is responsive to movement of the latching member to its latch position to move the locking member to dispose the interposer in its operative connecting position, said cancellation member movable by operation of said manually operable member to a second position in which the cancellation member is disabled from moving the locking member to its unlocked position during the moving of the latch member to its latched position.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which said interposer is a link mounted for sliding on the support and further including a support pivot pin on support for journaling said pawl and said manually operable member, said slidable link having an elongated slot receiving said pin for journaling said slidable link for pivoting with said manually operable member and pawl when the link is in its first position, said slot permitting said link to slide to its second position for disconnecting said manually operable member from said pawl.

9. The combination of claim 7 in which the cancellation member is pivoted to the lower end of said manually operable member for translating with pivoting of the latter between its first and second positions, said cancellation member being disposed beneath the locking lever when in its first position and pivoted upward by said latching member to engage and pivot the locking lever to its unlocked position, and the combination further including a pin and slot connection between the locking member and the interposer to shift the latter to connect the manually operable member and pawl with pivoting of the locking lever to its non-locking position.

10. The combination of claim 7 including a further manually operable member connected to the locking member for shifting the locking member to and from its locked and unlocked positions, said manually operable member being shifted and overridden by operation of said locking lever to its unlocked position by said cancellation member.

11. A door latch as defined in claim 4 in which said latch member turns through a safety position between said latched and said unlatched positions and in which said cancellation member shifts said locking member to the unlocked position when the latch member is in said safety position.

12. In a latch, the combination of, a support, a latch member mounted on said support to turn between latched and unlatched positions, a ratchet connected to said member to turn bodily therewith, mechanism for permitting said latch member to turn from said latched position to said unlatched position and including a pawl engageable with said ratchet and a manual operator movable between inactive and active positions, said mechanism having a locked condition in which said operator is uncoupled from said pawl and an unlocked position in which the operator is coupled to the pawl to release the pawl from said ratchet as the operator is moved to the active position, a lever mounted on said support to turn between first and second positions, a cam rigid with said ratchet and engageable with said lever as said latch member turns to the latched position thereby to turn the lever from said first position to said second position, said mechanism including a movable abutment normally disposed in the path of said lever to be engaged by the lever as the latter moves to said second position and to place said mechanism in said unlocked condition, and a connection coupling said operator and said abutment and operable to move the abutment out of the path of said lever as the operator is moved to said active position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,707,124 4/1955 Wartian 292-280 2,877,043 3/1959 Leslie 292-280 3,129,026 4/1964 Gergoe et a] 292-280 3,153,551 10/1964 Sandor et al 292-280 3,190,682 6/1965 Fox et al. 292216 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

JOHN MOSES, Assistant Examiner. 

